WWALS Watershed Coalition advocates for conservation and stewardship of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, and Suwannee River watersheds in south Georgia and north Florida through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

Monthly Florida bacterial monitoring 2019-02-21

Two weeks ago, WWALS member Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson asked the state of Florida
what baseline water quality testing had been done downstream of Valdota,
and:

Please begin water samplings for the isotope for sucralose, fecal
coliform testing and any other water testing establishing what or
who is culpable of contamination in our protected, Outstanding
Florida Waterways.

Yesterday she got an answer.
She agrees with my assessment of
the data supplied:
“Sparse locations and only monthly, but better than nothing.”

However, how can the state of Florida be
“committed to monitoring and stopping this recurring problem.”
when they
“do not
allow for enforcement actions directed at the source of sanitary
sewer overflows, nor for routine water quality surveillance for
sources of river water contamination”?

Now it’s true that last restriction was only cited as applying to the
Florida Department of Health (FDOH),
not the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)
Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration (DEAR),
and not to the
Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD).
But which of this alphabet soup of agencies should be doing
“routine water quality surveillance for
sources of river water contamination”?

The beginning of the final paragraph of the response does not
indicate any intention
to do more sampling:

The Agency will continue to monitor the identified systems and
respond to spills as we have indicated in this letter.

Also, while
the monthly data they attached to the response
is a good start,
it stops in October 2018, before Valdosta’s record spills of December 2018.
Possibly the link supplied in the response somewhere enables downloading
up-to-date data,
but I can’t figure it out from the minimal instructions:

Click on the search bar at the top right corner of the interface and
use the third station name dropdown menu to identify the exact
locations of the sampling stations.

Yes, I can find out where the sampling stations are.
But how do we the public get to see all the data?

I guess we’ll have to follow the suggestion in the final sentence
of the response:

We encourage
you to remain engaged as continued public interests is driving
solutions.

The first step towards solutions is doing the missing water quality
monitoring.
Yes, WWALS is building
a volunteer water quality monitoriong program.
But the state of Florida could, with probably less expense than the
salary of one of the department directors named,
ramp up much more quickly to cover the entire affected area
in a timely, frequent, manner.

Merrillee also asks:

The sucralose isotope samplings are still a curiosity to me. How
many septic tanks are in this region and how effective are they?

Yes, how many?

And there are other ways to test for human waste in rivers,
such as a fluoroscope that tests for detergent markers in real time.
WWALS doesn’t have one, although we’re looking for grants for the $2500/unit cost.
Seems like the state of Florida could afford one.

It’s the health of the citizens of Florida we’re asking about,
and the health of the economies of the dozen downstream
counties, which depend on eco-tourism on these rivers.

Yes, I knew Merrillee was going to send that request,
which is why I did not send a request to the state of Florida.
And yes, we and WWALS will remain engaged.

For more than a decade, the Valdosta wastewater systems have been
spilling their semi-treated and untreated effluent into the basins
of the Withlacoochee and Alapaha river systems. These 2 water bodies
flow directly into the Suwannee River near the Suwannee River State
Park region.

As a former president of Save Our Suwannee; as a Suwannee St. Johns
Sierra Club Excom member; as a board member of the Our Santa Fe
River organization and as a recreational tourism business owner, I
am keenly aware, through conversations with residents and local
government communications, of the desperation and hopelessness
experienced by pollution to the downstream citizens.

I have heard about potential lawsuits for nearly eight years now
regarding the Valdosta spills. However, after attending a recent
North Central Florida Regional Planning Council Task Force meeting
in which we heard from the Department of Health, I am still unclear
as to what water testing has been achieved to develop a baseline for
water quality in these watersheds. How do we know that the pollution
in the river and in people’s well water is directly from Valdosta’s
wastewater? The only way we to know for certain is through water
quality testing and monitoring.

In 2012, on the Santa Fe River we experienced one of the worst
cyanobacteria blooms in the known history of this river. The FDEP,
SRWMD and DOH were held accountable and worked to create baseline
samplings at key locations on the river to establish where the
nutrient loading was apparently coming from. The tests were able to
identify “weathered sucralose”; a test which proves
human wastes in the water column.

I am asking for the same accountability from these same three state
agencies in Northern Florida on the Withlacoochee, Alapaha and
Suwannee Rivers. Please begin water samplings for the isotope for
sucralose, fecal coliform testing and any other water testing
establishing what or who is culpable of contamination in our
protected, Outstanding Florida Waterways.

Thank you for your consideration in this highly charged water quality matter.

The Governor’s Office received your letter with concerns about the
Valdosta spills into the Withlacoochee and Alapaha river systems and
has asked that FDEP respond on their behalf. First, I assure you
that we are committed to monitoring and stopping this recurring
problem.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP or
department) and Department of Health (FDOH) share responsibilities
for monitoring water quality, including drinking water sources.
FDEP’s Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration (DEAR)
is responsible for monitoring and evaluating surface waters and
groundwater. DEP’s Source and Drinkwater Water Program exercises
DEP’s statutory authority to monitor and evaluate public drinking
water systems that provide water to 25 or more people. FDOH
regulates smaller systems, including private wells, under Chapter
64E-8, F.A.C. Under Chapters 514 and 381, Florida Statutes, FDOH has
jurisdiction to issue public health advisories, but they do not
allow for enforcement actions directed at the source of sanitary
sewer overflows, nor for routine water quality surveillance for
sources of river water contamination.

DEAR performs monthly monitoring of the Alapaha, Withlacoochee and
Suwannee rivers at the following sites:

Location

Station Name

Withlacoochee River at the Florida – Georgia state line

WIT010

Alapaha River 1½ miles east of Jennings, FL

ALA010

Suwannee River at the confluence of the Suwannee and Withlacoochee rivers

SUW100

Suwannee River at Branford, FL

SUW140

Suwannee River at Fanning Springs

SUW160

You can view the locations of these sites via mapdirect using this
link:

Click on the search bar at the top right corner of the interface and
use the third station name dropdown menu to identify the exact
locations of the sampling stations.

Site sampling includes evaluation of multiple parameters and
pollutants including bacteria (i.e. fecal coliform
and e. coli). This monitoring has been done for almost 20 years and has
included routine sampling for sucralose in 2012 and 2015. The site on
the Withlacoochee had frequent detections of sucralose higher than at
other sites. Sucralose may be introduced into a waterbody from multiple
sources, though, so it is not a reliable indicator of contamination from
discrete sources. Because there are other sources of sucralose along
the Withlacoochee, it is difficult to definitively attribute excessive
levels of sucralose to sanitary sewer overflows from the Withlacoochee
or Mud Creek wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

In addition to monthly monitoring, the department has responded to
overflows of Valdosta’s combined sewer system as well as spills at
the Withlacoochee River Water Pollution Control Plant and Mud Creek
Wastewater Treatment Plant since 2014. We typically sample, in
coordination with FDOH, as soon as possible after being notified of
a spill.

Sampling locations generally depend on where a spill occurs. The
spills discharge wastewater to Valdosta area creeks and wetlands and
that water makes its way through Hamilton and Madison counties and
either to the Withlacoochee or Alapaha rivers. Sampling locations
are determined by which river receives the spilled wastewater. Both
rivers ultimately flow into the Suwannee River near Ellaville,
Florida, so the department also often samples the Suwannee River
below the confluence of all three rivers. When there is a larger
spill, sampling is typically performed on multiple days and at more
locations.

The Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD or District)
performs ongoing water quality sampling at the Withlacoochee River
at CR 150, but the parameter suite does not include bacteria due to
time limits associated with sample processing. During spills or
excursions from either of the Valdosta WWTPs, the District assists
FDEP and FDOH in their bacterial sampling efforts by providing
information on river travel times, coordinating/communicating with
city staff, providing funding for sample analysis and, when
necessary, obtaining samples and having them analyzed at a contract
laboratory in Madison, FL. Since the District’s contract lab is
closer than the main FDEP lab in Tallahassee, the District can
provide sampling results relatively quickly during an incident.

For spills into the two rivers flowing from Georgia and into
Hamilton and Madison counties, public health advisories are issued
after an SSO occurs and FDOH is alerted of the situation, or when
laboratory test results of river water taken after the spills exceed
the surface water quality standard of 410 CFU/100 mL for E. coli.

Florida’s Department of Health (DOH) has responded on numerous
occasions during the last decade to sanitary sewer overflows
originating from Valdosta’s combined sewer system and WWTPs by
issuing advisories regarding public health that includes advisories
to avoid contact with potentially contaminated river water,
information on fish handling, and advice for drinking water well
testing when warranted. This advice is shared by posting signage
along river entry points and by issuing press releases.

As the public health advisories may span multiple counties, FDOH
coordinates with various local media to make the public aware of the
advisories. FDOH’s response also involves coordination with FDEP
water quality section and the FDEP Jacksonville district office as
well as the SRWMD. FDOH may lift the advisories once E. coli levels
meet or fall below the surface water quality standard.

The Agency will continue to monitor the identified systems and
respond to spills as we have indicated in this letter. We encourage
you to remain engaged as continued public interests is driving
solutions.